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Sharing Annex1 Practicalguide
Sharing Annex1 Practicalguide
Targeted Analysis
Practical guide
01/04/2020
Practical Guide
This targeted analysis activity is conducted within the framework of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation
Programme.
The ESPON EGTC is the Single Beneficiary of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. The Single
Operation within the programme is implemented by the ESPON EGTC and co-financed by the
European Regional Development Fund, the EU Member States and the Partner States, Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The website provides the possibility to download and examine the most recent documents produced
by finalised and ongoing ESPON projects.
Printing, reproduction or quotation is authorised provided the source is acknowledged and a copy is
forwarded to the ESPON EGTC in Luxembourg. Contact: info@espon.eu
Authors
Lucas Porsch, Lison Rabuel, Magdalena Klebba, Neja Bergant, Francesco Romano, VVA Brussels
(Belgium)
Advisory Group
Project Support Team: Jan Harko Post, Jay Navarro Oviedo (Municipality of The Hague), Vasileios
Liogkas (Ministry of Environment & Energy Greece), John Wante (OVAM), Brina Lazar, Klemen Risto
Bizjak (Municipality of Maribor), Pedro Jose Seixas Pombeiro, Nuno Morais (Municipality of Porto),
Leonardo Borsachi, Valerio Barberis (Municipality of Prato), Philippe Micheaux Naudet (ACR+)
ESPON EGTC: Nicolas Rossignol, Nikos Lampropoulos
Disclaimer:
This delivery does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the members of the ESPON 2020 Monitoring
Committee.
ISBN: 978-2-919795-28-4
© ESPON, 2020
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Practical Guide
01/04/2020
Disclaimer:
This document is a report.
The information contained herein is subject to change and does not commit
the ESPON EGTC and the countries participating in the ESPON 2020
Cooperation Programme.
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Table of contents
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 4
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 4
1 Why this practical guide? .................................................................................................. 5
2 What is the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy? ........................................................ 6
3 How to remove barriers and support success ................................................................. 11
4 Making the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy work for your territory ..................... 15
List of Figures
Figure 1: The concept of Urban Circular Collaborative Economy ............................................. 6
List of Tables
Table 1: Summary of links between policy objectives, impacts and initiatives........................ 14
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1 Why this practical guide?
Are you looking to make use of collaborative economy initiatives in your region or city to reach
your Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This practical guide, primarily targeted at local
and regional policymakers, aims to help cities and regions to use the collaborative economy to
foster their social, environmental and economic objectives. More specifically, the guide will
provide the reader with a step-by-step approach to better understand the initiatives in their
territory, their potential impacts, and how to foster them.
• In chapter 2, the reader is provided with a definition of the Urban Circular Collaborative
Economy (UCCE) as well as with a typology of initiaitves developed by the research
team – along with some concrete examples.
• In chapter 3, the reader is provided with a step-by-step guidance tailored to
policymakers willing to identify those types of initiatives that foster their political
objectives.
• In chapter 4, the reader is provided with concrete recommendations aimed at
policymakers and developed along the axes of knowledge, regulation and funding.
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2 What is the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy?
The Urban Circular Collaborative Economy is a concept bringing together the circular and
the collaborative economy. It designates initiatives which use collaborative ways to exchange
goods and services with the aim to use primary resources more efficiently and reduce
environmental impacts. The figure below illustrates this interrelationship, bringing to the concept
of Urban Circular Collaborative Economy.
Source: VVA.
The Urban Circular Collaborative Economy brings a variety of impact on urban areas and their
inhabitants. Through the optimisation and reuse of local assets, Urban Circular Collaborative
Economy initiatives have the potential to save environmental resources, generate economic
opportunities, and create urban communities and networks.
Initiatives within the realm of Urban Circular Collaborative Economy can take many different
forms. This project has created a typology of initiatives on the basis of their organisational
model and their size in terms of users. The characteristics of the territories in terms of
geography, economy, and the regulatory framework in place affect to a greater or lesser extent
the initiatives by generating different impacts.
Furthermore, the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy embraces a wide array of initiatives,
from the sharing of cars, objects and space, to energy and food cooperatives or community-
supported agriculture. More specifically, according to the specific territorial socio-economic
characteristics, a single Urban Circular Collaborative economy typology can be declined into
several practical initiatives. Some examples are gathered below:
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Sharing outdoor urban space
This type designates initiatives using urban space in a collaborative way, for instance through
community gardening, or re-use of parking space. Space is the main asset shared.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Increased biodiversity, Increased air
quality, Increase in local revenues (price reductions)
➔ Economic: Reduction in food and grocery spending, Reduction in waste management
costs
➔ Social: Increased contacts among people, Increased wellbeing of users (improved
healthy behaviours)
This type designates initiatives making a collaborative use of indoor space, as opposed to
urban (external) space. It embraces initiatives such as short-term rental of rooms or flats,
office space, leisure space, etc. Space is the main asset shared.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Savings of resources, Savings of space
➔ Economic: Reduction of renting costs
1
http://www.hortaaporta.com/
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OPO’Lab2 is a coworking Chi-Na3 is a non-profit cultural
space of Porto and the first association based in Prato and
FabLab in Portugal dedicated to founded in 2014 by some
the creative use of new forward-looking architects who
technologies in architecture, decided to combine industrial
engineering, design and other urban regeneration with art. By
artistic fields, by promoting means of art creations and
research, education and cultural exhibitions, the association aims
activities. This project assumes therefore a key at bringing the local community and migrant
strategic role in the context in which it operates, to communities closer to each other. More specifically,
establish important partnerships with other social Chi-na promoted the encounter of the Chinese and
actors such as public authorities, schools and Italian communities.
associations, cultural and scientific advancement. The impacts generated by the initiative include:
The impacts generated by the initiative include: ➔ Environmental: Regeneration of buildings
➔ Environmental: Rise of environmental and creation of common spaces
awareness among users ➔ Economic: N/A
➔ Economic: Increasing entrepreneurial ➔ Social: Promotion of the encounter between
attractiveness the migrant and local population
➔ Social: Contribution to the integration of
individuals with diverse backgrounds
This type designates initiatives using urban space in a collaborative way, for instance through
community gardening, or re-use of parking space.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Less waste creation
➔ Economic: Access to goods people would not have access to otherwise (high), Impact
on local revenues/jobs opportunities
2
http://www.opolab.com/
3
http://chi-na.it/
4
https://www.kledingbank-denhaag.nl/
5
https://repositoriodemateriais.pt/
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Sharing food
This type designates initiatives sharing food or food products. For instance, food
cooperatives, food redistribution networks, food and meal sharing.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Food waste reduction
➔ Economic: Reduction in food and grocery spending
➔ Social: Increased contacts among people
This type designates cooperatives in different sectors (food, waste). The key characteristic is
that each member of the cooperative has an equal share and equal rights in the
organisation’s profit and decisions.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Saving of resources, Reduction of waste,
Increased biodiversity, Additional capacity in renewable energy, Increased use of
(shared) electric means of transport
➔ Economic: Use of new technologies, Revenues generated, Savings in energy
consumption
➔ Social: Increased contacts among people
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https://life-f4f.gr/en/food-for-feed/
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Urban Soil 4 Food7 is an De Groene Regents8 is a
innovative EU-funded sharing organisation in the
project carried out by the energy sector in the Hague,
Municipality of Maribor, launched in 2013, and aiming at
together with seven partners, creating sustainable
aiming at using the city’s neighbourhoods by installing
biological and mineral waste in solar panels and creating both
order to produce quality soil community gardens and car-
using a pilot plant system. sharing services. The idea was launched by two
Produced soil from the pilot plant will be then founding members who wanted to improve their
distributed/used for three main purposes: 1) Four neighbourhood’s sustainability.
urban gardens (7.000m2 of urban gardens), 2) The impacts generated by the initiative include:
Roadworks and 3) Green city circle (parks). ➔ Environmental: Production of renewable
The impacts generated by the initiative include: energy and raise of environmental
➔ Environmental: Production of quality soil awareness
➔ Economic: Creation of employment ➔ Economic: Increasing savings per user
opportunities ➔ Social: Creation of meeting points inside
➔ Social: Increased interactions between marginalised neighbourhoods
users
Sharing transport
This type designates initiatives facilitating transport, e.g. bike sharing, car sharing, rides
sharing, ride hailing, etc.
Expected impacts
➔ Environmental: Environmental awareness, Increased use of (shared) electric means
of transport, Reduction of waste, Increased air quality, Reduction of air pollution
➔ Economic: Use of new technologies
➔ Social: Access to services people would not have access to otherwise (high),
strenghtening of collaborative culture and of ties among citizens
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https://www.uia-initiative.eu/en/uia-cities/maribor
8
https://www.groeneregentes.nl/
9
https://vlaanderen-circulair.be/en/cases-in-flanders/detail/degage
10
https://boleias.viaverde.pt/BoleiasWeb/
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3 How to remove barriers and support success
When it comes to the uptake of Urban Circular Collaborative Economy, territorial circumstances
such as economic growth and social exclusion, climate change, (sub)urbanisation, and
demographic change, play a triggering role. As a matter of fact, when faced with those territorial
challenges cities and regions are more likely to develop policy objectives that are strongly linked
with sustainability goals. However, challenges and policy objectives alone are not the sole
factors fostering the rise of UCCE initiatives. They are in fact multiplied by factors such as the
level of innovation, the entrepreneurial approach of the community, and the overall level of
access to finance tools. Thus, policymakers should bear in mind that those regions where
UCCE initiatives are likely to spread more quickly and widely among their citizens are usually
well equipped from a technological, entrepreneurial, and financial perspective (to name a few).
Therefore, cities and regions struggling the most with the development of the Urban Circular
Collaborative Economy are the ones that offer less support to innovation than others. Having
developed smaller support towards start-ups and a lesser technology-friendly environment,
these territories have indirectly established barriers to the thriving of collaborative and circular
initiatives as well as to sustainability objectives.
Similarly, a key success factor is the presence of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship spirit
among the funders of the given initiative. The entrepreneurial approach allows to the most
prominent Urban Circular Collaborative Economy initiatives a future scaling-up. Initiatives that
operates dynamically and have the potential of scaling-up attract investment opportunities,
among others from the public sector. Although it might seem as an exogenous factor, the
entrepreneurial culture of a given territory can be cultivated by policymakers by accompanying
entrepreneurs while taking their first steps. The active involvement of public authorities is in
turn a crucial factor for the development of the initiatives. The involvement can take different
shapes: it can be financial, material, promotional, regulatory or facilitatory (building bridges
between various actors).
Besides public authorities, territories and initiatives participation in networks of the circular
and collaborative economy is very important. Forums and networks provide the structure where
stakeholders can learn from each other by sharing their experiences and exchanging best
practices. These activities can be developed at a pan-European level (EU Urban Agenda
Partnership on Circular Economy) as well as regional and local level.
The table below shows a more detailed list of success and hindering factors.
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Table 1: UCCE success and hindering factors
Success factors Hindering factors
The collaborative economy can be a powerful tool to reach circular economy policy objectives.
The challenge for policy makers in using the collaborative economy for circular economy
purposes is the great variety in the types of Urban Circular Collaborative Economy initiatives
and their economic, social and environmental impacts. These impacts depend not only on the
type of initiative but also on local circumstances.
The figure below summarises a three-step approach that policymakers could use to streamline
their approach to the circular and collaborative economy. After having understood the policy
objectives they want to achieve, the next step is to enquire about the impacts and potential
impacts of these initiatives, so to decide on which types of initiatives to foster. The following
figure represents this approach.
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The research carried out in the case studies has allowed us to shortlist some policy objectives
that could be achieved through the collaborative economy. Among the policy objectives, one
can find the following: optimal use of resources, waste management, energy transition, fight
against poverty, social inclusion, innovation and entrepreneurship, quality of life, etc.
These objectives are linked to specific challenges: demographic change, urban
pressures/suburbanisation, mobility, climate change, economic growth, social exclusion,
poverty, unemployment. In turn, those challenges are all linked with sustainability in one form
or another.
Figure 3: Cities and regions sustainability challenges, policy objectives and development goals
Each of six selected territories under this study faces some of those above-mentioned
sustainability challenges. However, depending on local circumstances, the focus of policies to
address those is different. Policies are also tailored to current territorial priorities in terms of
political objectives (e.g. Maribor), apparent territorial issues (e.g. The Hague, Greece, Prato),
or current transitional ambitions (e.g. Porto). Furthermore, each policy objective can be linked
with a type of impacts, which relate to some initiatives.
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Table 2: Summary of links between policy objectives, impacts and initiatives
List of policy What types of impacts What type of initiatives
objectives
Optimal use of • Savings of resources • Sharing outdoor urban space
resources • Savings of space (community gardens, urban
(water, land) regeneration initiatives)
• Sharing food
Waste • Less waste creation • Sharing goods and tools
management • Sharing food
Energy transition • Additional capacity in • Sharing organisations as
renewable energy cooperatives (energy
• Increased use of cooperatives)
(shared) electric • Sharing transport
means of transport
Fight against • Increase in local • Sharing outdoor urban space
poverty revenues (community gardens, urban
• Employment regeneration initiatives)
• Access to services • Sharing goods and tools
people would not have • Sharing food
access to otherwise • Sharing organisations as
(high) cooperatives
Social inclusion • Increase in local • Sharing outdoor urban space
revenues (price (community gardens, urban
reductions) regeneration initiatives)
• Employment • Sharing indoor urban space
• Increased contacts (urban regeneration
among people initiatives, coworking spaces)
• Sharing goods and tools
• Sharing food
• Sharing organisations as
cooperatives
Innovation and • Use of new • Sharing organisations as
entrepreneurship technologies cooperatives
• Less hierarchical • Sharing transport
organisations
Quality of life • Environmental • Sharing outdoor urban space
awareness (community gardens, urban
• Increased biodiversity regeneration initiatives)
• Sharing food
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4 Making the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy work for
your territory
To make the collaborative economy a meaningful tool for regions and cities and to ensure that
the initiatives contribute to circular economy objectives, relevant policy measures can be
grouped into three pivotal areas, as the figure below shows:
Policymakers need to work simultaneously on these three areas to create a more favourable
environment for the circular and collaborative economy. Their work can be complemented by
national and European legislation in certain aspects, which is why the recommendations target
all levels of policy making.
Policymakers need to acknowledge existing initiatives and the environment in which they
operate. This is done by a) setting out clear policy objectives in line with national and
regional/local sustainability challenges, b) identifying the impacts and the mechanisms that
enable Urban Circular Collaborative Economy initiatives to achieve these impacts, c)
understanding how the existing landscape of initiatives maps onto those mechanisms, d)
fostering learning among interested actors, e) monitoring data. By better understanding the
“impact theory” behind the initiatives and grasping the good indicators to monitoring them,
policy makers have the necessary tools to create a favourable environment for those initiatives
that answer to their territory’s sustainability challenges.
Monitoring tools and impacts indicators are thoroughly presented and analysed in the final
report of the ESPON SHARING project on “Stocktaking and assessment of typologies of Urban
Circular Collaborative Economy Initiatives”.
The recommendations, combined with their best-suited policy tools, are thoroughly presented
below:
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POLICY POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS POLICY
LEVEL(S) LEVERS/TOOLS
National, Set out clear local policy objectives in line with Policy
regional and national and regional/local sustainability challenges strategies
local It is important that policymakers set out the policy
objectives they would like to achieve through the
development of the Urban Circular Collaborative Economy.
Policy objectives linked with the Urban Circular Collaborative
Economy are often connected with different sustainability
challenges: demographic change, suburbanisation, climate
change, economic growth and social exclusion. On top of the
ones mentioned, linking the policy objectives of cities and
regions with broader Sustainable Development Goals is
advised. This can have the triple advantage of: 1) avoid
duplication in the policy objectives pursued; 2) legitimate
local and regional strategies by giving them a broader
perspective; 3) allow to use pre-existing indicators to
monitor results.
National, Identify the potential impacts and the mechanisms• Desk research
regional and or levers that enable initiatives to achieve these
local impacts
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economy among cities and regions. These networks could
be used further to support the build-up of knowledge on the
impacts of the circular and collaborative economy and to
develop strategic and ongoing communication platforms to
facilitate exchange among regions, cities and initiatives.
The box belows shows some good practices identified at local level:
The city of Milan was the first European city to establish a strategy on the sharing economy
around smart mobility in 2015. The strategy devised objectives around different strands
(citizens participation, energy efficiency of buildings, electric mobility) which then allowed to
develop actions to be undertaken between 2016 and 2020 to achieve these objectives. The
Municipality of Milan has also set up a monitoring framework to check whether the strategy
achieved its objectives.
The Municipality of the Hague has made some efforts to promote Urban Circular
Collaborative Economy initiatives in line with the city’s strategy of reducing poverty and
promoting social entrepreneurship. The initiatives Made in Moerwijk, which allows inhabitants
of a more deprived neighbourhood of the city to be reintegrated in the labour market, and
KledingBank, a clothes-exchange initiative, contribute to these objectives. They are supported
by the Municipality through funding and/or provision of free space for their activity.
The city of Amsterdam, the city of Milan, and the city of Ghent have both worked with
sharing economy organisations (respectively shareNL, Collaboriamo and the P2P Foundation)
to improve the cities’ approach towards the sharing economy. This work has also included
circular economy topics (e.g. the city of Milan has developed a more integrated approach
towards public transport in order to reduce the usage of cars in the city).
At the European level, the European Clusters Observatory is a good example of an
organisation or forum that creates space for discussions, events, funding opportunities, and
bringing together different actors, around a common theme. This could be replicated for the
Urban Circular Collaborative Economy initiatives and foster the exchange with broader circles
of policy making, e.g. innovation, social research, etc.
Once having understood the context and tools at their disposal, policymakers need to develop
framework conditions help the initiatives they want to foster. This can be done through a) the
creation of an institutionalised framework, b) experimentation and pivoting c) active guidance
and support.
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The recommendations, combined with their best-suited policy tools, are thoroughly presented
below:
The box belows shows some good practices identified at local level:
Some regions already guide the initiatives through administrative procedures, for instance in
Flanders (establishment of address for questions, list of best practices).
In 2015, the city of Porto started an initiative called ScaleUp Porto to bring together
innovation and entrepreneurial efforts, providing an umbrella for the scattered efforts around
the city, and publishing a city start-up guide. Aiming at creating a sustainable entrepreneurial
ecosystem where cities can work as true scale-up catalysts, the ScaleUp Porto Manifesto
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comes together to: 1) Foster local development by focusing on cities’ role as aggregators in a
complex and heterogeneous European network; 2) Support companies ready to scale to
achieve sustainable development and growth in a global economy; 3) Involve citizens and
empower them to take advantage of the growing innovation environment that provides new
highly qualified job opportunities.
At the regional level, the structure of Circular Flanders has been acknowledged as very
helpful to frame the region’s strategy around circularity and foster the initiatives helping to
achieve circular economy goals. Circular Flanders is a transversal hub for promotion and
implementation of circular economy policies in Flanders with six core activities i) networks
(bringing a variety of partners together); ii) lab (assistance of pioneers); iii) policy (aligning
and connecting various policy agenda relevant for circular economy at the local, regional,
federal, EU or international level); vi) knowledge (policy relevant research, and dissemination
of acquired knowledge); v) innovation (encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship towards
circular economy); vi) embedding (principals and best practices of the circular economy are
utilised and embedded in Flemish companies, civil society organisations, education, local
administrations, and citizens). Its activities are based on a partnership of governments,
companies, civil society and the knowledge community.
Lastly, policymakers need to make appropriate resources available to make sure the initiatives
that are contributing to local policy objectives receive sufficient funding and that they receive
the right type of funding: either by providing funding themselves, or by supporting them to
generate the required private income for their operations.
The recommendations, combined with their best-suited policy tools, are thoroughly presented
below:
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one providing guidance, tutoring or mentoring to fledging
collaborative economy initiatives.
The box belows shows some good practices identified at local level:
The city of Prato provides Urban Circular Collaborative Economy initiatives with unused
public buildings to install their activities. Officina Giovani, for instance, is installed in a former
public slaughterhouse, having been excluded from possible real-estate development, was
then converted in 1999 into a youth workshop. It occupies an area bordering the historical
centre, across what will be the Central Urban Park, and consists of four regenerated industrial
buildings. There can be found an event room that can accommodate 500 people, a dance
room, a theatre room, an open space, rehearsal rooms, a co-working space, a bar-bistrot,
and a web-radio.
Initiatives can also use private funding opportunities such as crowdfunding (Kickstarter,
Indiegogo or Kisskissbankbank, StartSomeGoodm) or social impact funding (SINLOC in
Italy, LITA.co in Belgium).
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